Safe With Him (19 page)

“Pay-offs,” she mumbled aloud as she dried her hands after she had finished up the dishes. She knew all too well about dirty cops, pay-offs, and papers getting “misplaced.” But even still, she hated it for Draco.

“Yeah.” She heard him exhale as his arms that were wrapped around her got just a little bit tighter. “Fuck.”

She turn into him, wrapped her arms around his waist, laid her head on his chest, and whispered, “Sorry.”

He stepped back, looking down at her when she tilted her head back to look up at him. Then he tugged her back to the sofa, sat, and once again pulled her down into his lap. “That’s not me,” he told her firmly. “I swear to you, baby, that’s not me. I’m not dirty. I might give breaks here and there, but I do not fuckin’ break the law, and I sure as fuck have never taken a bribe from anyone, let alone some asshole like that.”

“I know,” she stated simply, because she did. “I just don’t know if you’re the exception or if they are, but I know that’s not you.”

He looked at her for a beat, his eyes roaming her face, then his eyes came back to hers. “You trust me?” He sounded like it was a question, or maybe more of a plea.

“Yes, I think I do,” she confessed. “Please don’t make me regret it.”

Suddenly his mouth was on hers. He kissed her hard at first, then gentled the kiss to sweet. When he pulled his head back he asked, “You done?” with a nod to the kitchen.

“Yes.”

“Then let’s go home.”

Bree walked through the back door of Draco’s house. “I need a shower,” she informed him absently.

“Just a shower or do you want to take another bath?” Draco asked as he was punching in the security code before turning to her.

“Aww, man, why did you have to mention a bath? No, no, just a shower. If I get back in that tub, I’ll probably fall asleep and drown myself. And drowning might discourage me from wanting to give it another go.” She paused, thought for a second, then added, “Hmmm…then again, I don’t think even drowning would turn me against the most fabulicious bathtub ever,” she rambled as she made her way across the living room and up the stairs with Draco following right behind her.

“I’ll make sure you don’t drown. After all, we wouldn’t want anythin’ to discourage you from my, what did you call it, fabulicious bathtub?” He chuckled as they made their way across the bedroom. “Is that even a word?”

She turned around to face him while walking backward toward the bathroom. “Fabulicious?” She shrugged her shoulders. “If it’s not, it should be. Deliciously fabulous is what your bathtub is. But I guess that would be de-lic-bulous, but I think fabulicious sounds so much better, don’t you?” She continued to ramble just as she came to a sudden stop when her back hit the closed bathroom door. “Teach me to walk backward, huh?” She smiled up at him as he moved closer and closer to her until his body was flush with hers.

He wrapped his arms around her middle and he lifted her up until they were face to face. “You’re so damn cute,” he said right before he slammed down his mouth to hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist and kissed him deep.

Long minutes later when he broke the kiss, he growled out, “Shower. Want you naked.” He carried her into the bathroom and back against the far wall by the shower, then kissed her again for another long minute before he finally set her on her feet.

“Shower,” she agreed as she moved to sit on the edge of the tub to take off her shoes, when something caught her eye. She peered over the tub and sitting on the shelf was her body wash and bubble bath. “Where did you get those?” They were the exact brand as hers, but she knew they weren’t hers because the bottles were just a little bit different than the ones she had at home.

“The store.”

“How? When? Wait. The store? There’s only one place I know of that sells that brand and it’s in the mall,” she asked, confused. How did he know what she used or where it came from?

“Seen that shit in your bathroom.” He jerked his head once at the stuff sitting on the bathtub shelf. “Asked about it, found out where to buy it, went and got it,” he said simply, like it was not a big deal at all.

“You just happened to notice what I use?”

“No, not just happened. Made a point to notice.”

“You wanted to know what I used and then went to the bath store, in the mall, in Roanoke and bought it?”

“Yeah.”

“For me?”

“Not like I’m gonna’ be usin’ it, and you didn’t seem too fond of mine.”

“Dra,” she whispered in wondrous delight.

“Baby, it’s just soap and shit.”

“When?” she asked.

“When what?”

“When did you make a point to notice what I used?”

“When you were gettin’ ready for work, after you’d taken a shower at your place so, as you put it, wouldn’t smell like a boy.”

“Then when did you buy it?” she asked, again confused. “That was ‘the shit’ you had to do? Tonight when I was working and you left, that’s what you were doing? You went to the mall and shopped…for me?” She still could not totally believe that any man would do something so incredibly sweet just for her, just because.

“Yeah.”

“Dra.” She moved into him, wrapped her arms around his waist, and tilted her head back to look up at him. “Thank you,” she breathed softly. Then rose up on her toes as she slid her hands from around his waist, up his sides, across his chest and wrapped around his neck, pulling his head down to hers until their lips just barely touched. “Thank you,” she repeated softly against his lips right before she kissed him slowly.

When he broke the kiss he laid his forehead on hers. “Shower. Now.” He took a step back, pulled her shirt over her head, and tossed it on the floor behind him. Then he kneeled down and slid her sweats down until they pooled at her feet. “Step out,” he growled low as he leaned in and kissed her stomach and lower, running his tongue just under the band of her undies, while his hands caressed her legs, up her thighs and around to her ass. He kissed her silk covered mound, then let his eyes slowly rise, taking in her body until his eyes met hers. He slowly rose, letting his hands caress her body as his eyes had just done, until he stood back up in front of her. “Damn, I want you.” He kissed her forehead, then with hands on her hips pushed her back from him. “Go take your shower, baby, before I lose all control and take you against the wall,” he moaned almost painfully.

She smiled back at him,
up against the wall
kinda sounded…interesting. She started to take a step to him and tell him just that when his hands at her hips tightened. “Stop,” he growled. “I can’t be that rough with you, not yet. I won’t fuckin’ hurt you again,” he ground out harshly.

He thought he hurt her? When? “You haven’t hurt me.”

“I did. Seen the pain in your eyes. Heard your cry. It won’t happen again. Next time I have you, I swear to you, baby, I’ll be gentle.”

“That…it was my first. That doesn’t count. It’s like that with—” she started to explain.

“It damn well does count. Saw your pain. Heard your cry. Not gonna’ happen a-fuckin’-gain,” he groaned. “Shower now, then I’ll show you gentle.” He kissed her forehead again, then turned and walked out of the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

“Wow,” Bree breathed as she stared at the closed door. Then the smile grew across her face as she went over to the bathtub, grabbed her body wash, and headed into the shower, only to discover Draco had already added a second bottle of her body wash as well as, she picked up the unfamiliar bottle,
in-shower body lotion
. “This is new,” she mumbled to herself as she moved to replace the body wash that apparently belonged at the tub, then finished getting undressed and when she stepped into the shower, she moaned. The shower she had taken downstairs in the guestroom was great, but this one was unbelievably fantastic.

When she forced herself to get out of the shower, she wrapped a towel around her as she stepped out of the shower area and noticed her lotion, deodorant, toothpaste, as well as a brand new toothbrush, sitting on the counter. Everything was the exact same as what she always used. “Guess this proves he’s not a jerk…most of the time,” she mumbled to herself as she used what he had bought just for her. The only thing she didn’t have was clean clothes, so wrapping the towel back around her, she went to the door.

“I forgot to get clean…” She was saying as she open the door, and then froze. The lights were off, only the flames flickered from candles Draco had placed all around the room. She stood there as Draco walked to her in nothing but a pair of black boxer briefs. He reached behind her, flipped off the bathroom light, then scooped her up, holding her close to him, and carried her to the bed. He gently laid her down, turned to the bedside table and hit something, then she heard Peter Cetera’s
(I Want) Forever Tonight
playing softly. Draco lay down beside her, kissed her softly, then tenderly whispered to her with their lips still touching, “Gonna show you gentle.”

Draco lay with his Breezie held tight in his arms, her head resting on his chest, her naked body pressed to him as their breathing began to slow. He didn’t know what he did in life to deserve a woman like Bree, but he knew for damn sure he was going to do everything in his power to keep her right where she was, naked in his arms.

“Dra?” He heard her call softly, and damn if he didn’t love when she called him that.

“Yeah?” he answered her as she rubbed her finger across part of his tattoo. If he was not mistaken, she was outlining part of the flames that ran across his chest and down almost to his stomach.

“You know when you asked me how I got to be twenty-six and never had sex?” she asked tentatively.

He tightened his hold on her just a little as he answered cautiously, “Yeah.”

“I never thought it could be like this.” She rose up on his chest, arms folded across him, looking down into his eyes. “Like it is with you.” She lay back down where she had started, again head on his chest, fingers outlining his tattoo. “I always thought sex was dirty and mean or used just to get something you wanted.”

“Why…” he choked out, then cleared his throat. “Why would you think like that?” He knew sex could be all those things and more but that knowledge came with experience, some even at his own expense. But she had had no experience…had she?

“I told you my mother was a coke addict, but that wasn’t all. Coke was her drug of choice, but she would do or take anything that she could get, beer, liquor, pills, or who knows what else. Most often there were a variety of drugs and alcohol around the house.” She paused for a moment, took a breath. “Those were the better days,” she mumbled, and Draco had the feeling that she was talking more to herself than to him. “The cops where we used to live, they knew this. They used it to their advantage. Instead of protecting two kids from that, they would bring drugs and stuff to her. Trade for sex. I know, because I saw and heard the exchanges, or the threats. If she didn’t do what they wanted, they would not only take the drugs away, they could lock her up where no drugs would be available.” She took another deep breath, and he tightened his arms around her. She blew it out slowly, and he relaxed his arms a bit. “Saw it so many times. For a long while I thought it was normal, and then I learned it wasn’t.”

“Did…” He swallowed hard, trying to keep his voice normal, not wanting her to hear his anger. Anger for a little girl who had her childhood stolen from her. Stolen from people like his own father. Yeah, his father may not have been the one who put the drugs in her mother’s hand, but it may as well have been. How many lives, how many childhoods, had his father stolen because of the drugs he dealt? “Did they…did they come after you?” He knew she had never had sex before, but he also knew there were other things they could have done to her.

“Like you’re thinking…no. Mostly they ignored me, or at the most slapped me around some if they thought I would…interrupt them.”

“They hit you?” he barked out louder than what he intended and felt her body jump. He gave her another squeeze. “Sorry. They hit you?” he repeated quieter this time.

“Some. Not bad. Mostly just a shove or a jerk, or a slap/push to get me out of the way. They never beat on me. Guess they left that up to my mother.”

He held her tightly and asked, “Your mother beat you?” He already knew the answer. Knew when she had said she had had worse after Warwick had attacked her in the parking lot.

“Yeah, sometimes when she didn’t have any drugs, she would blame me. Accused me of stealing her drugs or alcohol. Sometimes it would only be a short time and if I stayed away she wouldn’t come after me. I think she would forget I existed unless she saw me. So mostly I just tried to stay away or at least out of her sight.”

She was quiet for some time, just lying in his arms and again running her fingers over his tattoo. He remembered that picture in her apartment, she was only twelve and looked so happy. How could that child look that happy? Then Storm’s words came back to him
,
Even when we didn’t have a single fuckin’ thing to smile about she would find some way
… He wanted to comfort her, reassure her, but mostly he wanted to go back and find that little girl and save her. Give her a reason every day to smile. He wanted to beat the hell outta those so called cops, especially the ones who laid a hand on her.

“Storm,” she said, drawing Draco out of his thoughts. “After I was older, would always make me dress in his old clothes that were too small for him but still too big for me. I hated it and didn’t understood why.” He again thought of that picture, Bree in that way too big for her sweatshirt. “I mean, there were some people that tried, in their own way I guess, to help. Like giving me clothes, girl clothes that would actually fit. But Storm would always get rid of them.” She took a breath, and with her hands flat, she rubbed over his tattoo. “Once I hid a few pieces from him. I never wore them, just kept them. I’m not even sure why I did. I guess just because they were girl’s things and I liked them.” She paused again, her hand sliding up to the head of the dragon. Then her finger started outlining the head, the mouth and back again to the fire. “One day, it was summer, school had already let out. It was hot that day. So, so hot, and we didn’t have air conditioning. My mother was gone, who knows where, and Storm was at work. So I thought just for a little while I could dress like a girl. I changed into the pair of shorts and the matching little tank top. I liked it, thought it was really cute, and for once it made me feel like a girl. After a while I got hungry, so I went outside to the little shed around back.” She rose up again, looked down at him with a sad smile on her gorgeous face. “We, Storm and I, kept food in there, so if I got hungry and our mother was home, which most of the time she was, I could just crawl out the bedroom window unseen.”